Hogwarts and Beyond
by sue9292
Summary: Teddy is in 6th.One day while in a hallway he meets a girl,he helps her,in return she gives him the chance to talk to his mother.but when shes taken away while protecting the ones he loves.can he save her again before she turns evil?love does conquer all.
1. His brilliant Plan started everything

Walking down the corridors he knew so well Teddy Lupin was for once, alone. He'd just shaken off some 4th year girls who seemed obssessed with him and his hair glowed a bright turquiose in victory against them. It was a saturday and having finished all homework for the week Teddy was quite bored really. His friends were in the library, struggling with their mounting piles of work, he chuckled, serves them right for laughing when I did mine earlier he thought.

He stopped at the window and saw why no one was in the hallways, it was a beautiful day and probably the last they would see until the next year. Thats why his plan was so brilliant, if he stayed in the hallways no one would bother him, just thinking about all those people if he went outside made him frown. Crowded round him, wanting to see his hair change colour or hear stories of his father or his godfather. No person in their right mind would stay inside on such a sunny day.

He moved away from the window, knowing that if he stayed too long someone would see him, he carried on walking and turned down the corridor to the right, with each step his hair became darker until it was pitch black, he loved it like this for three reasons, it reminded him of his godfather, the stories he was told of sirius black and he had encouraged rumours that when his hair was balck he was angry, this made people think twice about coming near him due to his famous temper. Teddy assumed he got it from his father, no he did not turn into a werewolf but he had one or two qualities of one, when angry he was viscious, as two 7th years found out when he was in 2nd year and they had tried to force him to eat a very large worm by holding him down and almost choking him (the two boys found themselves with several broken bones, worms shoved in their ears and tied to the hoops on the quidditch pitch), also he had a better sense of smell than most humans, his other senses were quicker aswell and he got a bit jealous when people touched his things (this included girlfriends-though they found it charming that he was so protective) which apparently will be amplified with certain things, but his godfather rufused to tell him exactly what.

Turning another corner Teddy stopped dead, he'd seen the last thing he'd expected to see. Another person. A girl.

She couldn't have been much younger or older than himself but he couldn't quite place her from 6th year. She had blonde hair down just past her shoulders and she was around 5'5 from what he could tell, making her at least a head smaller than his 6'0 frame. Her back was against the wall as she breathed heavily. All of a sudden her eyes snapped open and she turned her head to look at him. He found himself under the gaze of the brightest blue eyes hed ever seen. She stamped her foot and narrowed her eyes at him, Teddy was tempted to take a step back from her anger but resisted.

"Why wont you lot leave me alone! What did I do?" She cried suddenly, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she turned and began to half walk half jog away from him. His eyebrows came together in confusion.

But before she turned the corner voices could be heard, coming closer. The girl froze.Suddenly she started to step backwards slowly.

Then came a group of guys from mostly Teddy's year from round the corner, he didn't know them well but he kept on their good side, they werent nice people. They started hooting and cheering as they saw the girl, she just kept stepping back. One came forwards a few steps to address her.

"Well well well...it seems we found our little toy." His words were mocking, the other guys laughed and Teddy found himself becoming angry.

"Teddy, you caught her! Welldone mate, she's quite the little trickster this one is, been avoiding us all week." Another called, finally noticing him. Teddy's fists clenched at his sides.

No one had noticed the girl, she kept moving back and but when she was almost level with him the group started forwards and she finally turned and began to run. Teddy didn't know why he did it but before any of them could react he'd pulled out his wand and a sticky substance flew form his wand, covering the group from head to toe, they went down like dominoes and found themselves unable to get back up. Nodding his head in truimph at the struggling boys Teddy turned on his heel and started after the girl.

Having longer legs than the shorter young woman Teddy only took a few minutes to catch up to her, hearing the light footsteps she made in her haste and following them easily.

He found her sprinting down the stairs and called down to her, she stopped to look up at him before she scowled and took off again. Teddy sighed, as his well trained ears picked up the harsh sound of the group of boys padding down a nearby corridor he searched into his pocket before finding a minutre broom, no bigger than his thumb and tapping his wand upon it in a few seconds it was a fully formed racing broom, _The Firebolt 3000_. He'd almost cried when his godfather had given it to him a few months back. Mounting the broom swiftly Teddy plunged down the stairway, leaning forwards for speed as his ears picked up the sound of the girl he realised where she was heading and knew it was a dead end. Taking a shortcut he'd learnt from the Mauraders Map he ended up along an empty corridor, which was cut off by a large walland flung his invisibility cloak around himself...and waited.

A short moment later the girl appeared, she looked slightly scared and as she reached the wall she gave it a sharp kick in anger and yelped in pain. The sound of the group's heavy footsteps echoed in Teddy's ears and he quickly brought an arm around the girl, pulling her under the cloak. Swiftly moving a hand over her mouth and an arm around her waist as she tried to shout in shock.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I swear it. Just stay still until their gone. Okay?" He felt her nod and he took his hand from her mouth, he could feel her shaking slightly and tightened his grip on her as the group came round the corner.

"I'm sure she went this way!" One yelled angrily. They turned to leave but one stopped them.

"Wait. Maybe she is here" And he strode towards the wall at the end of the corridor. The rest followed slowly, looking around carefully.

A slight frown on his face the young man placed his hands on the wall, letting them glide softly along it as he went a few steps to the side. Teddy now recognised him as their leader Tom Curtner, he was the eldest, the only one in 7th year.

"Spread out. She's tricky, she could still be here." He barked and at the order the group spread out, their hands out stretched, and Teddy found himself raising an eyebrow in amusment even though they were edging closer, they looked like zombies.

He felt the girl's heartbeat quicken more and pulled them both backwards a step so his back was pressed right against the wall.

The one who had ordered the rest had stopped and was looking at the spot only an inch to their left with interest, without warning he started to reach a hand outwards, slowly. There was no way he would miss them and they both held their breath, his hand came closer, and closer-

"What are you boys doing in here?" A voice of authority echoed through the corridor and the boy's hand stopped and flew back to his side as they all turned to see Proffessor Longbottom coming towards them swiftly.

Teddy could have kissed him. He knew Neville quite well from outside school, having spent many a dinnertime sitting around the table with him at his godfather's house.

Neville approached the guilty looking group with a wary eye as they stopped their search

"Nothing proffessor, we were just leaving" One piped up and they all filed past their teacher quietly.

Once they were out of sight Neville turned to look down the corridor towards the two teenagers still hidden under the cloak.

"I'm not going to even ask why that bunch were after you and Miss Halliwell Teddy, just try to keep out of trouble." A small smile appeared on Nevilles face as he spoke, as if he could see the shocked look on the pair's faces. And without another glance he left them, and an awkward silence loomed over them.

Finding nothing to say Teddy removed his arm from her thin waist and took the cloak from over them, stuffing it into his pocket once it was once more a miniture version of itself. All the while she stood, wringing her hands nervously and watching him.

He turned to leave but just as he did

"Thanks" He heard her say quietly, he turned back towards her and smiled

"No problem. So do you have a first name or should I call you Miss Halliwell?"

She raised an eyebrow in amusment and replied cheekily

"No Miss Halliwell is fine"

At this Teddy shook his head, his smile widening at their banter "Nope I want a first name, its only fair as you know mine"

She seemed to ponder this for a moment.before answering

"Mina.Mina Halliwell"

"Thats a nice name. Hey what year are you in? I can't quite place you" He asked, tilting his head to the side as his hair became a light brown without him noticing.

"Thanks, I like your name too. I'm in Gryffindor, same as you,and I'm a 6th year. Actually we have some classes together, but you're probably too busy with all your admirors and friends to notice me" She told him, not unkindly, actually it was said with humor, he found it interesting, if anyone else had spoken of the people who usually surrounded him he would have scowled, but not now. But he couldn't help asking

"So you're in Gryffindor? Then why were you running away from a fight?"

Mina frowned suddenly and he knew he'd said the wrong thing. Curiosity killed the cat.

"You don't know what you're talking about, don't judge me, you don't know anything about me or my life." She told him angrily, and without a backwards glance she moved past him and strode down the corridor and out of sight.

"Nice going Teddy" He scolded himself and sighing he shoved his hands into his pockets and then followed her path down the corridor and continued to wander around for the rest of the afternoon, avoiding the group of boys who he assumed were still on the prowl.


	2. THIS IS YOUR TEDDY ALARM CLOCK

**A/N-this chapter is dedicated to Padfoot7Prongs for being my first reviewer!**

Sunday morning Teddy sat up in bed, blinking his eyes and willing them to focus, he was always first up out of his friends and enjoyed waking them up.

He grinned at their sleeping forms and crept out of bed. Snatching his wand from the bedside he put the tip to his throat and muttered 'Sonorus' then moved to the middle of the room and yelled

"Wake up! This is your Teddy alarm clock wishing you a good day!"

The reaction was instantaneous and hilarious to Teddy.

Mark flew out of his bed and ran into a wall in his confusion, Chris fell out of bed and kept his eyes closed as he reached up onto the bed and pulled the covers over his head on the floor, Adam jerked violently and pulled a pillow over his head while yelling profanities and Greg just carried on sleeping.

By now Teddy was bent over, his stomach hurting from his laughter, that method was basic but had great results every time.

Rubbing his head Mark glared at his best friend evilly and stormed into the bathroom.

Chris had made himself a kind of nest on the floor with his covers surrounding him and his enitre body hidden underneath them as he tried to get back to sleep.

Adam was still swearing and threw a pillow at Teddy who ducked just in time before throwing it back.

As expected a pillow fight ensued. Chris gave up on sleeping and rugby tackled Teddy while Adam hit them both with pillows. Greg, deciding to get up, sat up and raised an eyebrow at the three now playfighting before shrugging and giving a war cry as he grabbed his own pillow and jumped on Adam's back, sending them both onto the bed right ontop of Teddy and Chris.

Emerging from the bathroom Mark stopped dead as hesaw the boys before looking in the mirror and straightening out his brown shaggy hair, he was so obsorbed in trying to force his hair to become neat that he didn't see the pillow which bounced off his head. He scwoled and span on his heel to look at thefour boys looking at him innocently.

His scowl turned into an un-nerving smirk suddenly and all four boys knew they were in for it, forgetting their attire they scrambled out of the door as fast as they could, hurtling down the stairs and into the common room.

Thankfully as it was early there were only three people actually up and two of them ran out of the room when they saw the boys, Teddy and his friends were notorious for pranks.

They ran behind the largest sofa and crouched down low. It was at that moment they realised that they were still only in pajama bottoms, but shrugged it off, none of them were that self conscious.

"Oh boys, come out come where ever you are." Came the earily calm voice of their friend from the top of the stairs.

Thats when they heard a small sound come from the seat right next to their hiding place. There was someone sleeping there. Teddy recognised her instantly.

"Mina." He muttered and the other two boys, knowing what had happened, both looked at her aswell, seeing the source of Teddy's annoyance the day before.

She started to shift and opened her eyes slowly, they heard her mutter about having a stiff neck and she started to rub it with one hand and stifled a yawn with the other before her eyes hit the boys, fire danced in her eyes and she opened her mouth to yell but Adam reached out and yanked her towards them, she fell off of her chair and now lay across their laps as they kneeled in a row. She looked very angry but Teddy put a hand over her mouth and pushed her back down as she tried to sit up.

Finally she gave up and they all listened to Mark's footsteps, as Teddy glanced down at her he saw he cheeks turn pink as she saw what they were wearing and found it incredably cute.

"You lot always hide by the sofa, so predictable, now, I think that you all deserve...-" His voice stopped and all the boys and Mina frowned.

"-A SHOWER" water burst over them all, Mina cried out, Adam swore loudly, Greg gasped, Chris screamed in shock and Teddy jerked.

Now it was Mark's turn to laugh as he watched them all jump up, but was shocked when a girl jumped up aswell.

Mina's cheeks flushed deeper as her white school shirt became see through and flung her leather coat around herself hurriedly.

"You couldn't have let me go! Now i'm soaked...and for no reason!" She cried, pointing an accusing finger at Teddy who was wringing his violet hair out.

"He didn't know that i was going to soak you guys" Mark told her, baffled by her anger at a little water. She turned slowly to look at him and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a hard glare.

"Why the hell are you guys down here anyway?" She asked suddenly.

"A pillow fight turned nasty when we hit Mark in his primping part of the day, we ran for it and ended up down here, whats your excuse?" Teddy told her shrugging.

"I fell asleep on the armchair, I was trying to get away from the insessant chatter in my dorm about you lot" Mina told them all with a roll of the eyes as she flopped down onto a chair facing them.

"The girls in your dorm were talking about us?" Greg asked, grinning to himself.

"They always do 'Oh Greg was so cute yesterday in that black jumper' 'Teddy looks so fine, I'm going to marry him' 'Chris is such a hottie' 'I've got a plan to make Adam fall in love with me' 'I wanted to kill Macey for looking at Mark like he was a piece of meat the other day, he's mine'" Mina imitated the girls in her dorm in an annoyingly high voice.

"Really..." Mark replied, smirking to himself. Teddy on the other hand went a little pink and Greg and Adam high fived while Chris looked pleasantly suprised.

"What else do they say?" Greg asked, smiling brightly at the gossip.

"Unless you want to be here till Christmas I won't tell you all of it. It's really annoying though" Mina replied waving her arms impatiently.

"Who's in your dorm by the way?" Adam asked, sitting opposite her nonchalontly.

"Grace Paterson, Abbie Mitchel, Tora Wyatt and Bethany Addler" Mina recited, messing with a lock of her hair, now a brunette colour as it was wet.

Adam nodded and smiled, happy with himself.

"Oh and it wasn't Tora who said any of those things, she feels the same way as I do about you lot" Mina sighed, searching her pockets for something.

"And whats that?" Mark asked, frowning. Mina smiled and pinched her thumb and index finger before pulling it across her lips in an i'm not telling way.

Greg childishly pulled his tongue out at her and she did the same back. Finding what she was looking for Mina pulled out her wand and spelled herself dry and popped her wand back in her pocket. She sighed and giving them all a small glance she stood up and went to climb the stairs to the girls dorm.

"I'm sorry!" Teddy called, not knowing why he suddenly said it.

She stopped, but did not turn round, they heard her say quietly

"Do you know what your apologising for?"

He didn't, all he knew was whatever he'd said had insulted her. She chuckled darkly at his silence and carried on up the stairs and out of sight.

"Ow!" Teddy cried, Mark had slapped him upside the head and tutted at him.

"How could you not say what your apologising for, you said something that hurt her, that was what you were apologising for you git" He scolded before spelling them dry with his wand and hurrying up the stairs to get dressed, the others followed and as Teddy did he sighed and shook his head, that was the second time he'd messed up with her.

Later on once they had all gotten dressed each of them sat on their bed's

"I'm so bored" Adam complained, thumping his pillow.

"You're not the only one!" Greg replied,annoyed.

Teddy looked out the window and suddenly voiced his thought

"Lets go outside"

It was still nice out, he didn't know if it was hot though, the castle remained at one temperature through each of the seasons.

"Okay, it'll probably be the last time we have nice weather until next year" Mark agreed and they all got off their beds and leisurely strolled through the common room and down many staircases and corridors and out the front door. As they went outside they were hit by a sudden hot wind.

"It's boiling out here!" Adam exclaimed, transfiguring his clothes instantly to suit the weather. The sun was blearing down on them, unrelenting and very hot.

The others silently agreed and changed their clothes aswell before moving to sit under their favourite tree near the lake. There were alot of students out today but tthey thankfully left the group alone.

"Mark your crush is coming our way" Greg said in a sing-song voice.

They all turned to see Tora Wyatt storming towards them. Mark had liked Tora for a long long long time and though he could have any girl he wanted he had always wanted the one girl who hated him...history really does repeat itself doesnt it?

"Hey sugar whats wrong?" Mark asked, smirking up at her furious form. She scowled down at him through her thick black hair, her brown eyes glittering angrily.

"Him!" She pointed at Teddy accusingly, for now ignoring the sugar remark.

"Whats he done now?" Greg asked curiously, a small smile pulling at his lips as he shook his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Mina has been through alot and then _not only_ do you basically call her a coward you doubt her right to be a gryffindor!" Tora cried, glaring at Teddy.

"She was running away from a fight, you do the math" Chris said, standing up for his friend with a shrug

"Think of a logical reason why a gryffindor won't fight back..." She replied, looking at them all, none found an answer so she huffed

"Because they have a real reason why they can't. Mina's reason was...she cares too much about her friends. Defending people and doing the right thing is a pretty big thing for a _true_ Gryffindor." She explained, glaring at Teddy when saying about a true gryffindor.

"But how was not fighting some guys helping peop-ohhhh,I get it. They threatened to hurt you if she fights them, so she's not going to just stand there and let them beat her up so she ran" Mark started then his eyes widened as he continued quickly. Tora nodded fiercly, agreeing.

"They didn't just threaten me, they said they would hurt her little sister and her other friends if she fought back or told anyone. So next time you accuse someone of being a coward get your facts straight first! Oh and don't call me sugar Mark!" And with that she stormed off again. Mark smiled serenely at her back as it faded out of view.

Teddy hit his palm off his forehead

"I was such an idiot! How could I say that?" And with that he threw his head back onto the ground and scrunched his eyes up bitterly.

"You didn't know mate" Mark told him hurriedly

"Thats the point! I didn't know so I just assumed" Teddy threw back.

Mark rolled his eyes and said in a way that only a best friend could get away with

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself you git and go apologise properly, she's over there, near the water" He pointed her out flippantly and tugged on his arm to get him moving.

Teddy glared at his best friend who smiled back and kicked him in the shin, he cried out and started to walk away from the chortling group.

"So I'm sorry about whatI said before, I jumped to conclusions without knowing your situation and I hate having hot girls mad at me-no wait don't say that last bit" Teddy practised what he would say out loud as he walked around the lake, kicking stones and shoving his hands in the pockets of his red swimming trunks, thinking of his attire he chuckled to himself at the memory of her blush at seeing him bare chested, twice in one day, he thought to himself.

Teddy was in good physical condition, quidditch was to blame for that, Teddy was a beater, as was Mark, Chris was Keeper, Adam was a chaser and Greg was the announcer.

He ruffled his hair nervously as he neared her, she looked peaceful, her hair was blowing softly in the breeze and shimmering in the light, she had her feet in the water, her jeans rolled up above the knee, a large leather belt was tight around her thin waist and she her top was of dark green with a dragon embroidered with silver, flame flowing from its mouth all the way to her shoulder.

"Mina" He tentatively spoke.

"Yes?" Was her simple, cold reply, she didn't even turn round and he flinched at her cold anger towards him.

"I wanted to...apologise properly for yesterday. Your friend Tora explained, it was foolish and rude of me to jump to conclusions and insult you like that." He quickly said, hoping he sounded apologetic as possible.

She sighed.

"You're forgiven" Came another simple reply and he smiled brightly, but it turned into a smirk as he sank down to sit beside her and asked cheekily

"So why is a true Gryffindor wearing Slytherin colours?" She raised an eyebrow and chuckled un-nervingly...

Then pushed him into the lake.

He came back up with a splutter and heard her call to him

"Because there's a little bit of slytherin in me Teddy Sirius Lupin"

His mouth fell open "How do you know my middle name? No one knows that!" He exclamied, tredding water to keep his head from going under the cold water. She smirked

"I know people in high places" And then she looked up at the sky briefly before winking at him, taking her feet from the water and strolling away, her shoes in hand.

Wonder what she meant by that? Teddy thought, looking up a the clear sky before pushing off from the bank to swim across to his friends, who even from far away Teddy could see them in hysterics at his misfortune.


	3. a dark spirit

Monday came fast, way too fast. Teddy had spent the rest of Sunday glaring at his friends who made constant jibes about him being pushed into the lake.

To tired to bother waking up his friends Teddy lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, frowning silently as he thought about the girl who plagued his mind. Mina Halliwell. He wondered which classes he had with her, and how had he never noticed her before? It made no sense, how could he not have noticed her before! His brain hurt as he tried to name everyone in his classes but they were all just a blur.

With a soft growl of annoyance he sat up and walked into the bathroom, after having a shower and brushing his teeth he came back to find his friends still asleep. He chuckled, found his wand in his robes, he then did a warming charm upon himself and turned the room ice cold before pointing it at the middle of the room and muttering an incantation which sent a beam of white light at each of his friends, one second later their sheets flew from them and the cold air hit them full on.

They all cried out and started yelling at Teddy who laughed heartily and turned to the mirror, calmly ignoring their cries, today his eyes were deep green and his hair was a sandy colour, he ruffled it a bit and threw on his robes while chuckling at his friends who were trying to find their wands to cast warming spells.

He left them to hurriedly dress and grabbing his bag he strolled out, still laughing quietly.

The common room was bursting with too much life for a monday morning and Teddy raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why is everyone so happy?" He thought out loud.

"Maybe because you came in, love?" A sickly sweet voice suggested and he frowned, feeling a small hand move up his back.

"Ha ha Ebony, is there a real reason?" He deadpanned, but her hand stayed where it was on his shoulder and the girl let out a little girlish giggle, he winced at the sound and refused to turn to look at her.

"Proffessors Grady, Macmillen and Spinnet are on some kind of course this morning, almost every person in Gryffindor has those subjects today and so we get the morning off...we could spend our free time together" She whispered in an attempt to sound seductive and failing miserably.

He tried to step away from her but she dug her fingers into his robes and yanked him back.

"Don't be like that Teddy..." She said, her voice more stern now. He was trapped.

"Oh Teddy there you are!" Came a VERY welcome voice from his left.

Mina was walking up to them. She nodded at Ebony who scowled. She span Teddy round and linked her arm through his, so they were both facing Ebony. He thanked her silently, knowing she had only come over to save him.

Ebony was pretty, no doubt about it, but she was like a Monet painting, good from far away but up close you could see her skin was too tanned, it looked orange, her eyes were too bright blue, she had contacts in and she was wearing robes which were like a second skin in a bad way...

Teddy nervously looked from girl to girl. Mina looked calm but her eyes were sly and Ebony was frowning heavily as they both stared eachother out.

A few people had stopped to look at the confontation as the tension rose until Ebony broke eye contact and Mina smirked in satisfaction.

"Me and Teddy were talking, Mina." Ebony told her, her voice harsh as she spat out her name. But Mina didn't even flinch.

"And now you're not." She quipped. A few people snickered softly but with a glare from Ebony quickly stopped.

"Why don't you crawl back to rich little death eater parents Halliwell" Ebony cried stepping forwards, her face turning pink...which made her orange skin look even worse.

Mina's eyes hardened and she stepped forwards as well, dropping Teddy's arm. Now there were inches away from each other, Ebony was slightly taller than Mina but that didn't seem to bother Mina in the slightest as she looked stonily at the other girl.

"Where are _your_ parents Ebony? oh thats right you don't know do you? Because they truely were death eaters, and their still in hiding and you have to stay here in the summers because you're scared to go back to the muggle orphanage you get stuck in each year because of them. Oops, no one knew that did they?" Mina said, her voice more harsh than anyone could have expected.

Ebony screamed in rage and pulled her wand out, as did Mina, both ready for a fight.

"Whoa! Calm down girls!" Teddy intervened quickly. But he was pushed aside by a shield charm from Ebony's wand.

They began to circle each other slowly, their eyes never leaving the others. Blue eyes on fake blue eyes.

"You scared?" Ebony asked.

"You wish." Mina replied, calm as ever. Teddy was a little bit scared now, not for Mina but for Ebony, he may not have liked her but she wasn't good at spells and from the looks of things...Mina was.

"Good Morning children" Proffessor Longbottom suddenly came through the portrait and Ebony dropped the shield charm immediately as the girls walked away from eachother, neither stupid enough to continue their feud in front of their Head of House.

He felt the tension but with nothing to prove something had happened he frowned and went to talk to a group of first years.

Relief washing over him Teddy went over to the sofa Mina had flopped onto, she was now sucking on a red lollypop and looking into the fire. She glanced at him and giving the lolly a last long lick, which left Teddy's eyes following her tongue, she spoke

"You owe me Lupin" It was said sternly but he could hear the small bit of humour within her voice.

"Yes I do, you saved me from a fate worse than death." Teddy concluded. She chuckled and it was like music to his ears as apposed to Ebony's girlish high pitched giggle.

"So, what are you doing this morning with your free 'Ebony free' time?" She asked, popping the lollypop out of sight and into her mouth, twirling it. He chocked back a growl as he watched what she was doing to that lollypop and forced his eyes back to hers.

"No idea, truthfully, you?" He simply answered as calmly as he could.

All the while she seemed totally oblivious to what she was doing to him and it was driving him crazy.

"Well me and Tora were going to go study but she's now going to spend some time with her latest boyfriend, I think you know him-Maxxi Zambini?" She told him, turning away from the fire to look at him.

Teddy did know Maxxi, he was 6th year slytherin and Mark would not be happy that his Tora was seeing him. Maxxi was as handsome as his father Blaise, olive skin and dark piercing eyes coupled with a sharp wit made him almost perfect within any girl's eye, but among the guys in their year he was a lady killer, he used them and then left them. Though _all_ the girls in their year didn't see that, they ignored it every time new stories of another heartbreak were spread around. Maxxi Zambini could do no wrong.

Both he and Teddy shared the top sexiest male in Hogwarts title. Though Teddy would have been happy to just be left alone.

"Yes I know him, not well but I know him." He carefully answered. Mina scoffed.

"I know every guy hates him Teddy, and I know why, because I hate him for the same reason, he uses girls and then dumps them, how do I konw? Because I am the resident agony aunt in our year and every one of those girls has come to me for advise on how to get over him. I tried to explain this to Tora but she refused to listen. And so I satisfied myself by pinning him to a wall and telling him I would cut off his balls and make him eat them if he hurt her." She told him, smiling misheviously.

"You're scary sometimes, you know that right?" Teddy joked and she laughed

"If you think i'm bad then i hope you don't meet my sister." She told him in a hushed voice before popping her lolly back into her mouth and happily twirling it again. Yet again he tried not to growl and ended up turning it into a cough.

"Do I know your sister?" He asked, curious. She shrugged

"Maybe, Kay Halliwell, she's a 5th year Slytherin, she looks a bit like me but with dark hair, its like our family trademark."

Teddy raised an eyebrow and lifted up a lock of her silky blonde hair

"Really?" He asked, chuckling. She smiled sadly.

"I've never been a part of the family. My whole family was in Slytherin, until me. My parents never cared about me really, I don't care though" She confessed quietly, looking into the fire, avoiding his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could find to say. She then threw the lollypop into the fire carelessly and glanced at him, then skyward.

"It doesn't matter. I wasn't the child they wanted. They wanted the daughter who would whip a house elf for serving luke warm food.-" She closed her eyes. "_I_ was the daughter who refused to hurt the poor thing, my father then shoved me out of the way and decided to show me how it was done. I screamed at him to stop, she was bleeding, crying out in pain, I yelled and he told me it was my own fault...he kept hitting her, and hitting her, until I couldn't take it anymore, I threw my body in the way. Shielding that poor, poor creature from him. I took the blows...again, and again until my mother intervened, crying that I was his daughter...and he replied She is no daughter of mine. I was 6 years old.

"Ever since then my name was burned from the family tree, the house elfs and servants were forbidden to take orders from me and I was only invited to social occasions so that it did not bring disgrace on the family for having a daughter who does not follow the order of pureblood society." She told him, bitter, shaking slightly.

There werent any students in the common room anymore, he didn't know when they had all left, and frankly he didn't care. Seeing a tear escape her tightly shut eyes he swept his thumb across her cheek to stop it. Words weren't needed as he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, she fought half-heartedly but then gave into his unrelenting arms. He didn't know why she had told him that, but he was happy she felt that she could tell him.

After a little while she pulled back.

"Sorry I burdened you with that. But I...heard from a reliable source that I could trust you." She explained.

"Thats okay. Who told you that you could trust me?" He asked curiously.

She smiled softly, her eyes flickered upwards again.

"You wouldn't believe me" She told him, shaking her head slightly. But he pressed his question.

"Try me."

She seemed to ponder him for a little while, then she sighed

"Your mother." Was her simple answer.

"I'm sorry I thought you said my mother" Teddy said, confused. She smiled

"You heard me right Teddy. I told you that you wouldn't believe me"

"But your my age, if what your saying is right then she told you that when you were a few months old" Teddy replied.

"Actually she told me two days ago." Mina answered, she was still smiling comfortingly, knowing that it was a difficult concept to grasp.

"I-But-How?" Stuttered Teddy.

"Well, my family is very old and my ancestors were very powerful, and they learnt how to do certain things, such as wandless magic, how to _become_ an animagus, but one thing just one of my ancestors learnt was...how to make a link with the dead, she was my great-great-great granmother Rosetta Halliwell, an amazing witch and her son, somehow inherited that power, but no one in my family has had it since, but a few years ago i had this dream that i was talking to this old woman.

She looked familiar somehow. When i woke up i realised that it was actually Rosetta, in the dream she told me that i had inherited her gift. So through some tests of my own i found that i could...um how to explain it...leave my body and go somewhere where i could contact spirits. Also i've been able to let certain souls take over my body for a few minutes. I did it so Tora could talk to her grandmother one time.

And then the other day when you saw me something happened which has never happened before. My mind was forcibly taken from my body. Thats when i met your mother. She told me that she had a son and that i could trust him. Then she let me return and suddenly there you were. At first i didn't believe her though because i thought you were with those stupid guys chasing me. But when you saved me i knew she was telling the truth. And i know thats alot of information to take in so i'll answer any questions you have."

Teddy's mouth fell open. Mina sighed and leant back, Tora had reacted the same way, so she got out a magazine and flipped through, glancing at Teddy every now and then. After about 10 minutes Mina huffed and flung down the magazine before flicking Teddy on the ear to wake him up.

"Ow!" He moaned, rubbing his sore ear. She laughed quietly but then turned more serious.

"Teddy...Now this is only if you want to but...I _could_ let you talk to your mother. You don't have to, some people wouldn't want to but it could be my way of...saying thanks for the other day and a sorry for throwing you in the lake i suppose" She told him, putting a hand on his arm in comfort.

"You would do that for me? I could, speak to my mother?" Teddy asked, he'd always dreamed that he could speak to his parents.

She nodded "You want to? I could do it now if you want" She told him.

He looked at her for a moment before nodding. She breathed out slowly and closed her eyes. A minute passed then suddenly Mina gasped like it was her last breath. She opened her eyes and something had changed. She was the same but different.

She looked around sharply then her eyes found him and she put a hand to her mouth.

"Teddy?" She whispered, her voice had changed, it was more like a mother's now.

Was this his mother? He nodded waiting with baited breath, hoping it was not some sick joke.

She jumped up and pulled him with her, she wrapped her arms around him. Then she pulled back and cupped his face.

"My baby! Oh me and your father are so proud of you, my you do look alot like him don't you!" She cried.

"Thats you isnt it mum?" He asked loudly. She nodded and grinned.

"Oh theres so many things i want to ask you but..the longer i stay the weaker Mina becomes. Speaking of her...you keep hold of her." She ended sternly but you could see humor in her eyes.

"What do you know about her?" Teddy asked, curious.

"She's an amazing young woman with a sad past my beautiful boy." But then her tone hardened sadly. "Now a more serious matter...There have been rumors of something. Something big. If the rumors are true a dark spirit is coming, i don't know much but i do know you have to tell Harry. Because the spirit i've heard talk of...is Voldemort. Somehow he is planning something from below. I do hate to tell you this but it must be said. The deatheaters that are still at large are helping with his plans, the terrible thing is that while this was all going round Mina's name was mentioned, icouldn't get a clear read on how she's involved though. But what i do know is that she is a good person.

Now i have to go before i use up the rest of her energy. She won't remember this because, well its hard to explain, but for the next few days she'll be a little weaker so i want you around to help her okay?" He nodded and she smiled, trying to memorise his face.

Then she went up onto her tip toes and put a soft motherly kiss on his forehead and ruffled his hair before closing her eyes. He saw her sway a little then her eyes opened again and it was Mina looking back at him.

She looked unsteady so he sat her down.

"Did it work?" She asked breathily. He nodded and she smiled serenly.

"Good. How long was she here?"

"Only a few minutes. Mina...thank you." She looked him dead in the eye.

"Your welcome." She replied and leant back. He knew she was tired and so he leant back as well and they simply sat in comfortable silence while Teddy pondered his mother's words.


	4. Elmo

Mina sighed tiredly, now she had to go through lessons feeling this bad. But she didn't really regret it, seeing Teddy's face had made it worth it. She wondered what they'd said to each other, because he was now in deep thought and glanced at her every now and then. Had they said something about her? But she gave up on trying to figure it out, she was too tired right now, doing what she did took a lot of energy and focus and next she had DADA, which they would probably have to do practising spells in, god she didn't have the energy for it. She closed her eyes. Telling herself she was just resting them, she wasn't going to fall asleep

"Teddy there you are mate" She heard Teddy's friend Mark call out. She felt him turn next to her to see his friends strolling towards them from the portrait.

"Hey guys" He replied softly, he must still be getting over what happened.

"What's wrong? Did you two fight again?" Chris asked, looking from Miley to Teddy with a frown.

"No, it's something else I'll tell you guys later" He told them all as they sat down on the remaining seats.

"Is she asleep?" Greg asked and she decided to pretend that she was.

"Well she should be tired after what she just did for me" Teddy told them.

"What was it?" Adam quiried

"She let me speak to my mother. Through her..." Was the short reply and there was silence for a little while.

"Oh okay" Greg replied calmly and Mina smiled even though she tried hard not to

"So you're not alseep, why you little..." Mark suddenly exclaimed, damn they must have noticed, she opened her eyes

"I was resting my eyes, I've very-yawn-tired" She told them all, closing her eyes again and letting her head fall onto Teddy's shoulder, she half expected him to pull away but he thankfully didn't

"Wheres Tora?" Mark asked her, interested. Mina smiled again knowingly

"Your crush is with her boyfri-" She started but there was a sudden noise and she looked up to see Mark had flown out of his seat and was looking at her with wide eyes

"Who?-Name?-Who?" He rambled comically. Mina frowned, he wasn't going to like this

"Maxxi Zambini" She muttered.

"Didn't hear you..." He pressed

"Maxxi Zambini" She said louder and saw his eyes darken in anger.

"She can have any guy she wants and she choses that man whore!?" He yelled. Mina put her hands up in defence

"Hey I told her not to, but she ignored me. So I satisfied myself by telling him I'll cut his balls off if he hurts her" She told him and he calmed down a little, he sat down but then frowned and looked at Mina

"She hasn't-hasn't...done anything with him has she?" He asked tentatively. She took pity on him

"She hasn't slept with him, but from what she's told me...which is everything, they have gone further than just kissing. She's no slut, he'll have to pull out his A game to get her to even consider getting into his bed." She told him comfortingly. He relaxed and leant back in his chair.

Just then another Gryffindor came in. Grace Paterson. Humming to herself before she saw the group and stopped, she went a little pink before swanning over, hips swaying too much. She sat on the arm-rest next to Mina

"Hey Mina. What are you guys talking about?" She said, twirling a lock of brown hair between her fingers and glancing at Chris. Mina raised an eyebrow

"Why are you speaking to me? You never talk to me" She told the girl, who looked at her blankly for a minute before giggling

"Don't be silly Mina I always talk to you." She told her, obviously trying to get the Mina to go along with her.

"Well then I must have memory loss because the last thing you said to me was in first year when me and Tora tried to make friends with you and you said _'like I need you two as my friends, I would like go so lower in popularity if I even like totally chatted to you in public...oh and sort out your hair'_ and I like my hair how it is, bimbo" Mina deadpanned, putting on a high pitched voice.

The boys all laughed and Grace huffed before standing up and she shot a wink at a startled Chris before going up the girls' staircase.

"That was fun!" Mina exclaimed, clapping her hands happily.

"You share a dorm with her?" Chris said, pointing after the brunette

"Unfortunately"

He sighed in dramatic sympathy, "You poor thing" He exclaimed and she chuckled.

"I'm guessing she likes Chris then" Adam said sarcastically, it earned him a pillow in the face.

"Adam you're supposed to be a chaser, how did you not catch that?" Teddy asked, now feeling better.

This earned Teddy two pillows in the head, one from Mark and one from Adam.

"Ouch" He cried and grabbed the pillow from beside him and chucked it at Mark. Miley moved her head from his shoulder with a small smile and watched as Greg sneakily walked behind a still laughing Chris and hit him on the head with a large cushion, she chuckled.

Adam stood and threw a cushion frizbee style at Mark who managed to catch it and chucked it straight back, Teddy sprung up from his seat and caught Greg in the side of the head with his cushion.

It was now full on war. There were pillows everywhere until finally Teddy was the only one standing and he threw his arms up in truimph, his hair going to blonde in elation.

"I win!" He cried childishly.

This was when Mina decided to have a little fun, she grabbed a stray cushion, stood up and hit Teddy round the head with it, he stumbled forwards and a tired looking Mark tripped him up.

Mina threw an arm up in celebration and Mark pushed a pouting Teddy off of him to stand and hold her arm up

"We have a winner!" He yelled and they all clapped, except Teddy

"Aren't you happy for me Teddy?" She asked, putting on her best puppy dog eyes and pouting.

He scowled, he now really really wanted to kiss her, damn her!

"You vixen" He exclaimed and threw a random pillow at her, it missed by inches and she smiled at him before throwing it back, it hit him in the side.

"Teddy you're supposed to be a beater, how did you not catch that?" She mocked and the guys all laughed as Teddy pouted again

"Minx" He called out, pulling his tongue out, she returned the gesture before yawning loudly. He rolled his eyes and stood up before pushing her down into a seat and taking the one next to her.

"I promised mum I'd help you for the next few days because of how you're tired from what you did" He explained softly.

She nodded and smiled sweetly

"Awwww" Came a sudden chorus and they both turned to see Teddy's friends looking at them with gooey-lovey-dovie eyes, Teddy chuckled good naturedly while Mina flushed and put a pillow over her face.

But their friendly and more than friendly moment was ruined

"Stupid twat stop following me!" This yell was very familiar to Mina and she turned to find a seething Tora arguing with her boyfriend...not for long Mina thought in a sing-song voice.

"Babe don't jump to conclusions here" The incredably good looking boy asked, trying to reason with her.

"Jump to conclusions? Jump to conclusions!" She yelled, black hair flying and brown eyes almost emmitting sparks.

"Just like you were jumping down that Ravenclaw slut's throat! Oh but wait you tripped and accidentally landed on top of her on that desk and tried to help her up with your tongue" She continued, slowly walking towards the now very scared lady killer.

"You messed with the wrong girl, Maxxi Zabini. No one messes with me. No one! I will not cry over you or ignore this betrayal, I will get revenge!" She cried, glaring at him while he stood in shock, staring wide eyed at her.

She then turned and walked towards the girls staircase but when she was on the first step she turned back

"Maxxi, you are going to wish you had never messed with me. Oh and you have a small dick, bye love muffin" She told him sweetly, relishing it when he went bright red as she walked up the rest of the stairs and out of sight.

By this time Mark was in stitches, he'd fallen from his seat onto the floor and was clutching his sides as he rolled around in mirth.

"Zabini?" Mina called from her seat, he turned to look at her dazedly.

"You know my promise about hurting Tora and you losing two very special parts of your anatomy?" He nodded, backing away.

"Well I've come to collect them" She finished, standing up and watching in glee as he shrieked and ran out of the room

"It's so fun messing with people's heads. See you guys later I'm going to go see if Tora is okay." She waved good bye to them all and followed her friend's footsteps up the stairs.

As soon as she was out of earshot the taunts started

"Ooh Teddy's got a girlfriend!" Adam cried, jumping up and down in his seat.

"No I haven't, we're friends" Teddy argued, but he was still smiling just a little.

"And I am the Queen of all of England" Mark cried, obviously in a good mood that Tora had ditched Maxxi.

"Well then hello Elizabeth but there is no way I am bowing down to you mate" Teddy retorted smugly

"Wasn't what you were saying last night babe" Mark replied throatily, he batted his eyelashes and winked. They all cracked up at that.

Then the bell went

"Well back to hell we go. Potions with Slytherin." Adam said with a sigh, each year one of them drew the short straw and was forced to learn their timetables so at least one of them knew it. It was Tradition.

"If he thinks that I'm all talk then he has another thing coming!" They heard Tora yelled.

"She's hot when she's angry" Mark suddenly claimed and they all shook their heads.

The two girls came down the stairs, Tora looked like she could shoot flames from her eyes and Mina looked pretty annoyed aswell, but Teddy guess that was because she was tired, but also as her best friend was pissed off so it was her job to be aswell.

They both flew through the common room and out of the door too fast for even Mark to say something.

"That guy sure is in for it. Almost feel bad for him" Greg sighed falsely.

"You should because he hurt Tora, I'm not going to over look that either. So now he's got her fiery temper and me to look out for, not that he knows this yet." Mark told them all seriously. Obviously he was quite protective of her and even though he was happy they were no longer together Maxxi had hurt her, so pay back was needed.

They all collected up their stuff and Chris waved his wand to set thew cushions straight before they started the walk to Potions.

Suprisingly they were not the last ones there, infact only Mina and Tora were in the classroom when they arrived. The pair had their heads together and seemed to be plotting.

The boys sat in the two rows of seats behind the pair on the 'Gryffindor' side of the classroom. and Teddy and Mark (being the closest to the girls) tried to listen in. But they could only hear small parts

"...So we'll need to go down to the kitchens for that..."

"...of course we could just do it ourselves but he'd know it was us if we don't have an alibi..."

But then people started to come in and what little hope they had of hearing anything was gone.

The whole room was soon buzzing and everyone kept glancing towards Tora, who was now leant back in her chair lazily.

"So is it true Maxxi dumped you?" A Slytherin girl called out and people looked from Maxxi's hung head to Tora.

"Nope I dumped him after I saw him kissing a Ravenclaw girl, didn't look like she was enjoying it much though..." Tora called back cooly and the Gryffindors started to laugh while the Slytherins didn't want to believe her.

"Can't even keep some random slut happy Zabini? Losing your touch?" Mark called out, enjoying the laughter from the red and gold side and Maxxi's clenched fists.

"Settle down children, sorry for my lateness but there was a teacher's meeting I had to attend which ran over a little" The sudden deep voice of Professor Hurley boomed out and everyone went quiet.

Some people rolled their eyes, everone knew Professor Hurley and Professor McCoy were dating secretly, and today the students could even see a love bite on his neck.

He set them up making Veritaserum and then they saw him look into a small mirror on his desk and gasp. He then excused himself and everyone started to talk.

Tora and Mina put their heads together again and Mark and Teddy saw with satisfaction that Maxxi was looking at the pair nervously every few seconds.

Between them they seemed to be holding them but neither Teddy nor Mark could see what until Mina lent down to put it on the floor. A snake.

She seemed to whisper something to it before it slithered off, but Teddy noticed that Tora looked suprised at Mina and whispered something to her, Mina looked shocked aswell but seemed to brush it off as they all watched the small green snake move its way through the seats and desks towards Maxxi.

After a moment of so the snake disappeared from sight until they heard a scream. From Maxxi.

He jumped up and screamed like a little girl. The laughter was deafening as Mina and Tora hi fived.

He flew from his seat and at seeing the two girls stormed over angrily. He flung the small snake at Mina who caught him softly

"Don't hurt Elmo!" She cried, scandalised as she cradled the poor snake who seemed to have gone into shock.

"I don't care about Elmo! You did this!" He yelled, slamming a hand down on their table. Tora was quite unaffected.

"Yes I did. What will you do about it? Scream like a girl again?" Tora retorted angrily, standing to face him, he took a step back before glaring heavily and returning to his seat.

"You know to walk away, and Maxxi...this is just for starters" She called back happily as their Professor came back into the room...with a Slytherin scarf on.

"Okay class calm down and get on with your work." He called and they all quietened down to muttering amongst themselves.


End file.
